Rothko chapel – NOTHINGNESS MATTER
The Rothko Chapel is one of a modern of art’s object to prove how the simplicity within art objects and space, work together to send the message to the viewers. How the spatial memory, evokes emotion, sets up parameter and boundaries can govern the way people see and feel the space.

Introduction

The processing of visual sensation into perception of the world around us involves a complex interaction of the eye and brain. (Lawson 1999, p. 61).

According to this quotation, people tend to experience the space to feel the ambient. When memories take part, it is responsible for retaining visual shapes, colors, information about locations and movement (Spatial memory n.d.). This allows one to remember where an object is related to another, recall the information about the object that also can produce their feelings about the object.
There are many elements triggered by the memory that are able to evoke emotion, creates boundary and sets up parameter in perceiving the space. All circumstances evoke as an emotion for its viewers, such as happiness, awe, excitement, and fear. It justified by the situation when people are in a place which they do not like, a gallery with all blank paintings for example, they say: "this does nothing for me." I believe what they are actually saying is that the paintings did not evoke any sort of emotion in them. However, it does not mean that the paintings are bad, because it is not about the object itself but more to the different way of people in setting up the parameters and boundaries within their memory.

Nothingness matter
In modern art era, where Less is more was the most well-known principle, most of the works by modern artists were following the mainstream idea. Modern art engages space within scale, texture, surface and color on the object without considering the beauties ‘senses’ required to understand the modern art.
Nothingness matter, as it seen in Ryman’s ‘all-white paintings’ in late 50s. ‘Art is a very high form of pleasure’, Carl Andre (Collings 1999, p. 54). He believes that for an audience to make an effort to get it is only right, as it is not an entertainment. Thus, somehow specific forms are better than complex forms, because they are more modern. Simple forms were felt to have more potential for radical artistic complexity than the complex one (Collings 1999, p. 144). Hence, the nothingness of the paintings actually, could be an easiest way, for human memory while perceiving the meaning itself, because it is bold, less complicated, and constant (Ryman 1999).
Therefore, we could find all the minimalist objects were presented and have an enormous value within itself in this era. One shared idea was that those objects tell people that here is a mysterious interaction between the objects, the space around it and the viewer. This applied generally: the thing – the nothingness around it. This is already a bit different to just thinking everything was in the object it self (Collings 1999, p. 148).
This matter was intrigued me to find out more about how could the viewers get the most message by the ‘blank’ object within a space. In this essay, I would like to find the answer by examine the Rothko Chapel by Mark Rothko.

The Rothko chapel by Mark Rothko
Mark Rothko is one of the Modern Art artists, which his paintings were atmospheric and practically formless. What forms they had were feathery, soft and looming. Rather than form his paintings emphasized colors (Collings 1999, p. 167). Most of Rothko’s paintings were in the dark tones, which the most famous one is the fourteen virtually all-black paintings completed in 1967 as a commission for a chapel, which is an interfaith sanctuary, a center for human rights — and a one-man art museum in Houston.
Rothko was not only a painter, but also the designer for the chapel’s interior. He was designing it to evolve the chapel as the container of a set of paintings created for it. ‘There is no such thing as a painting about nothing’, Rothko (Collings 1999, p. 167).
He tried to systemize the interaction between the paintings and the interior spaces to engage people in perceiving the space as a sacred place to meditate. Accordingly, a hanging height, the intervals between and juxtaposition of paintings, the placement of paintings within the architectural features of an interior, the color of the wall surface upon which pictures would be seen, and more importantly, the character and strength of the lighting were the main consideration on his works.

The chapel
The interior forms, as an inseparable unit with the paintings was created to cope with the context, which intend to endorse the message to the viewers, so that they can feel the space as a meditation place.
The chapel form is an octagon (Figure 2). This approach lends itself to a cyclic process of movement that tends to pace people to experience the space within.
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Figure 1. Diagrammatic plan of final arrangement of paintings in chapel (Nodelman 1998 p.224). |

According to figure 3, the large solid walls present a sense of peaceful restraint, very conscious and fixed container for pieces of art. It creates a boundary for the people from the mundane world outside and generates an eerie sound quality within the Chapel as well. A quiet place where people go to think, or pause or have a private talk, can be achieved by big solid walls to protect them from noise (Alexander, Ishikawa & Silverstein 1977, p. 303).
Rothko considered using the natural light in terms of exposing his paintings. However, he also applied the artificial lights to support the evening events. Therefore, he made the open ceiling which intents to produce the skylight. It engenders a profound sense of centrality and focus that affects a sacred feeling.

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Figure 2. Interior space of the Rothko Chapel (Rothko Chapel: Yahoo! Says To See It Before You Die 2009) |

In terms of ambience in the space related to the wall and floor color and the material chosen, Rothko played with natural or earth-related materials contribute to enormous sense of grounding. The wall surface in this room material is concrete in a glossy texture. Rothko objected to the sterility of white walls and experimented with shades of gray before finally insisting that the Chapel’s materials should remain unpainted and in their natural states. Moreover, the floor material is paving stones, which he tried to create a clarity ambience. The color palette of materials has profound impact and affects on individuals, which also give a sense of purity.
In my opinion, the special character of the walls, floor and ceiling of the chapel interior successfully facilitated the mysterious interaction between the space, the paintings by Mark Rothko and the viewers as a whole.

The paintings
The paintings allocated to the eight walls were in the shape of a huge rectangle of black with slightly different black within one another. All the chapel paintings share a dark red or “plum” ground; some have black figures superimposed upon this ground. The use of materials and the process of making the paintings are the main consideration of Rothko’s works. He believes that exposing in the surface will evokes the viewer’s emotion (Nodelman 1997, p. 83 ).

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Figure 3. The paintings by Mark Rothko in the chapel ( The Mark Rothko Chapel 2011). |

For Rothko, the quiet and gravity entailed by the religious purpose of the building were consonant with what he saw as the optimal psychological condition for the reception of his paintings. Rothko did not wish for people to be attracted to the chapel by its architectural renown; still less did he wish to see paintings visually upstaged by the building that housed them (Nodelman 1997, p. 44).
The paintings itself seems forcing people to still and focus, due to the scale of the painting which covered almost the whole walls, hence it surrounds the viewer with massive, imposing visions of darkness. The lack of bright color means that the pictures draw people in rather than charmed them. This is what concentration means.
In short, I would say that the varying size, proportions, and placement of the rectangular figure within its panel give rise to a repertory of interactive spatial visually and environmental relationship.

Conclusion
Regarding to the explanation above, the role of the interior elements of the chapel as an ingredient of the pictorial installation, which deliberately design for the space, was effectively easy to perceive by the viewer’s mind to memorize, set up parameter and create boundary, therefore it affects their emotions. In short, it can say that if the object of art is placed in the appropriate place and someone was looking at it, there would be a magical rising of its status as an object, so we can say that place does matter. Moreover, the interaction between those elements one to another is successfully govern the way people see and feel the space.